THE EFFECTS OF EMOTIONAL WORKING MEMORY TRAINING ON TRAIT ANXIETY

Abstract

"Trait anxiety is a pervasive tendency to attend to and experience fears and worries to a disproportionate degree, across various situations. This study sought to determine if participants who undergo emotional working memory training will have significantly lower scores on the trait anxiety scales post-intervention. The study also sought to determine if emotional regulation mediated the relationship between working memory training and trait anxiety. Trait anxiety was measured using the form Y2 of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y2). Emotion regulation was measured using the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Forty-nine participants underwent 20 days of computerized emotional working memory training called Emotional Dual n-back, which involves viewing a continuous stream of emotional content on a 3x3 grid, and then remembering the location and color of items presented on the grid. The control group consisted of fifty-one participants. Participants of the treatment group had significantly lower trait anxiety compared to controls post-intervention. Mediation analysis determined that working memory training was significantly related to trait anxiety reduction as measured by the STAI-Y2. Emotion regulation was found not to mediate between working memory training and trait anxiety reduction. Results suggest that working memory training may be useful in reducing psychoemotional symptoms of trait anxiety. Moreover, it proposes for future research to further look into the mediating role of emotion regulation via neuroimaging and the development of more comprehensive measures of emotion regulation."